Rhinoceroses: Rhinocerotidae - Rhinoceroses And People

rhinos population square black

Humans have long been fascinated with the rhinoceros, as indicated in cave art from the Early Stone Age. Unfortunately, this fascination hasn't kept humans from reducing all rhino populations. Rhinos are especially valued for their horns, which are used to make dagger handles in Yemen (believed to give the owners invincibility) as well as medicine in China and India. Because the horn is made of keratin, the same as hair and fingernails, the there's no evidence to support the claim that it holds medicinal power.

HUMAN GREED SPELLS DEATH FOR BLACK RHINOS

For nearly twenty years, the African Wildlife Foundation has been committed to rhinoceros conservation. Much of its funding supports black rhino protection and conservation in the Tsavo East National Park in Kenya.

In the 1970s, the black rhino population was between six and eight thousand. By 1989, however, the population had dwindled to twenty. Poaching is the sole reason for the decline of the rhino population throughout Africa. As a way to counterbalance this tragic pattern, Tsavo East created the Ngulia Rhino Sanctuary (NRS) in 1985. It began with three rhinos in a fenced-in area less than 1 square mile (less than 1 square kilometer). Today it is larger than 38 square miles (98 square kilometers) and is home to fifty-seven rhinos, half of whom were born in the sanctuary.

Although the numbers are slowly rising, it isn't happening without a cost. In May 2003 two park rangers were murdered in an effort to protect the rhinos from poachers. Poaching continues throughout rhino ranges, but sanctuaries like NRS are key to bolstering the rhino population.

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